Slow Cooker Beef and Refried Bean Chili

Slow Cooker Beef and Refried Bean Chili is an easy chili recipe that cooks in a few hours in the slow cooker, and the refried beans thicken the chili and add amazing flavor! If chili with beans doesn’t work for you, check out my low-carb chili recipes.

Chili is something quite a few people seem to be making these days, now that everyone is wanting comfort food and needing to use pantry ingredients. This Slow Cooker Beef and Refried Bean Chili is a delicious chili recipe that’s been popular for years, but with pinto beans, kidney beans, and refried beans, it’s definitely not a low-carb recipe.

With so many people using the slow cooker and making chili these days I thought this was a great time to improve the recipe with a new option that makes it a bit lower in carbs. (Here’s the original version for anyone who was a fan!)

My new recipe omits the kidney beans and adds one large chopped red bell pepper that’s cooked with the onion and spices. Everything else is the same, and I love the red pepper and don’t mind that there are a few less carbs either!

Either way you make it, this is a delicious chili with pinto beans, Pace Picante Sauce, a perfect blend of spices, and a can of refried beans to thicken it. There’s also a healthy amount of lime juice, and I’d serve this with slices of lime so lime lovers (like me) can squeeze even more lime into their chili! And for those who prefer Low-Carb Chili, check out my round-up with Ten Amazing Low-Carb Chili Recipes from around the web!

How to Make Slow Cooker Beef and Refried Bean Chili:

(Scroll down for complete printable recipe, including nutritional information.)

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and cook the ground beef until it’s nicely browned.

While the beef browns, chop the onion and red bell pepper.

When the beef is browned, add it to the slow cooker and turn slow cooker to high.

Add more oil to the frying pan and cook onions until they’re starting to brown, then add the garlic and cook a minute or two more.

While onions cook, drain the pinto beans into a colander placed in the sink.

Rinse the beans with cold water until no more foam appears. (Rinsing is probably optional, but it makes the beans a bit more digestible.)

Add the onion mixture to the slow cooker with the can of pinto beans. Then add the Pace Picante Sauce (or other salsa of your choice).

Then add beef broth to the frying pan and scrape the bottom of the pan to get off the browned bits that stick to the pan. Add the can of refried beans and stir until the beans are partly mixed with the broth, then add that mixture to the slow cooker.

Cook chili about 3 hours on high (or you can cook for 6-8 hours on low if you prefer.)

When the Ground Beef and Refried Bean Chili is done, stir in the lime juice and serve hot.

If you have a large slow cooker I'd double the recipe because this freezes very well!

Notes

I used a 2.5 quart slow cooker (affiliate link) for this recipe. If you only have a big slow cooker, I’d double the recipe. This freezes well and can be reheated in a microwave or in a small pan on the stove.

I use Pace Picante Sauce (affiliate link) because it's low in carbs, but you can use any salsa of your choice.

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This Slow Cooker Beef and Refried Bean Chili is loaded with low-glycemic ingredients which are approved for all phases of the original South Beach Diet. However, dried beans are limited for Phase One so you should have a small serving of this for Phase One. Use beef with less than 10% fat for South Beach Diet. Chili with beans won’t work for a low-carb diet, but if you’d like a chili like this with even less carbs, I’d use the red pepper variation and just use one can of beans. Or check out my Ten Amazing Low-Carb Chili Recipes!

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35 Comments on “Slow Cooker Beef and Refried Bean Chili”

I have never really cared for chili (even though I’ve lived my entire life in Texas), but I still make a pot a couple of times each winter. It just seems like the right thing to do. My family doesn’t really love chili, either, and they usually aren’t too thrilled when I declare that it’s “chili weather”. But this recipe has changed ALL of that! This is some seriously good stuff! I guess maybe it’s the refried beans that took this to the next level, or perhaps it’s the lime juice added just before serving. I will never try any other chili recipe, and I’ve deemed it “chili weather” just 10 days after making this recipe the first time. I don’t think anyone is going to complain!